Rare Natural Quadruplet Pregnancy in UP: Sambhal Couple’s Emotional Journey of Faith, Loss and Hope

For doctors, a natural quadruplet pregnancy is considered extraordinarily rare.

Medical experts estimate the chances at nearly one in seven lakh pregnancies. In medical literature across the world, only a limited number of such cases have ever been documented, making every instance a remarkable event in obstetrics.

But for 25-year-old Amina Fatima and her husband Mohammad Alim, those statistics are not just numbers in a medical journal.

They are now deeply personal — tied to days of anxiety, prayers, sleepless nights, heartbreak and an uncertain hope that continues inside a hospital NICU in Moradabad.

Between May 9 and May 14, at Teerthanker Mahaveer University Hospital, Amina gave birth to four babies — two boys and two girls.

What made the case even more extraordinary was that the quadruplets were conceived naturally, without fertility treatment, and delivered naturally as well, something doctors describe as exceptionally uncommon.

The first baby was born prematurely at just 26 weeks of pregnancy on May 9 and weighed only 710 grams.

Over the next five days, doctors managed to medically delay labour, giving the remaining babies more time inside the womb.

On May 14, Amina delivered another baby boy weighing around 900 grams and two girls weighing between 600 and 700 grams.

But amid the joy came devastating grief.

The firstborn baby, who had been placed under intensive medical care immediately after birth, developed pulmonary haemorrhage — a severe complication often seen in extremely premature infants whose lungs are not fully developed.

Despite doctors administering surfactant therapy to help him breathe, the child could not survive.

Today, the remaining three babies continue to fight for life inside incubators in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where doctors monitor them around the clock.

For the young couple from the neighbouring villages of Ratanpur Kala and Obri in Sambhal, the journey to parenthood has turned into a test of resilience they never imagined.

Amina and Alim got married in May 2024 in what their families describe as an arranged marriage, though the two had known each other since childhood. Like many newly married couples, they dreamed of starting a family soon.

“Everyone wishes for children after marriage,” Amina says softly from her hospital bed. “I wished for the same.”

When an ultrasound first revealed that she was carrying four babies, the family was stunned but not entirely shocked.

Amina’s own mother had given birth to nine children, including twins, so multiple pregnancies were not completely unfamiliar within the family.

At first, Amina says, she only prayed that all four babies would survive safely.

However, as the couple consulted different hospitals, doctors repeatedly warned them about the dangers associated with quadruplet pregnancies.

Almost everywhere they went, they were advised to undergo “foetal reduction” — a medical procedure in which one or more foetuses are terminated to improve the survival chances of the others and reduce risks to the mother.

When they finally reached TMU Hospital, nearly 30 kilometres from Sambhal, the advice remained the same.

Shubra Agarwal, who led the medical team handling Amina’s case, recalls how rare and medically challenging the pregnancy was.

“In nearly twelve years of practice, this was the first spontaneous quadruplet pregnancy I had encountered,” she said. “We explained to the family that carrying quadruplets to term is extremely difficult and medically risky.”

According to doctors, such pregnancies place enormous strain on the mother’s body and often lead to severe complications, including premature labour, low birth weight, organ underdevelopment and high neonatal mortality risk.

Even veteran specialists say such cases are uncommon.

Alka Kriplani described spontaneous quadruplet pregnancies as “extremely rare,” saying she had seen only two or three similar cases during her entire medical career.

For Amina and Alim, however, the medical advice led to an emotional and moral dilemma.

Amina says she listened carefully to doctors but struggled with one thought — no one could guarantee that reducing one foetus would ensure the safety of the remaining babies.

“I kept asking if there was some injection or treatment that could at least guarantee one child would survive if complications happened,” she recalls. “Nobody could promise that.”

That uncertainty ultimately shaped their decision.

The couple chose not to undergo foetal reduction and instead placed their faith in God.

“Leave it to Allah,” they repeatedly told doctors.

Alim still remembers the words he used while speaking to the medical team: “These children are Allah’s gift. We will accept them as a blessing.”

Behind those words, however, was a family already living with limited means.

Alim runs a small grocery shop with his brother in their village and earns between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 a month.

The family lives in a modest joint household with five members. Once doctors advised complete bed rest for Amina, everyday life changed completely.

Alim began waking up early every morning to prepare breakfast before heading to the shop.

Relatives stepped in to help with household work while Amina spent most of her pregnancy resting.

As the months passed, the pregnancy became physically exhausting.

Unlike most pregnancies, where women gain weight, Amina’s weight began falling.

She struggled to eat properly and survived mainly on coconut water, fruits and small meals because of nausea and physical discomfort.

Doctors increased the frequency of medical check-ups from the fourth month onward, closely monitoring both the babies and the mother. By the time Amina completed 26 weeks, the pregnancy had already entered a critical stage.

Then labour began unexpectedly.

On May 9, she delivered the first baby. What happened afterwards surprised even experienced doctors.

Her contractions suddenly stopped.

Since the remaining babies were still stable inside separate amniotic sacs and there were no immediate signs of infection, doctors attempted a rare medical approach known as “delayed interval delivery.”

The procedure involves medically delaying the birth of the remaining babies in a multiple pregnancy to improve their chances of survival.

For five tense days, doctors monitored Amina continuously before she finally delivered the other three babies on May 14.

Hospital authorities say it was the first quadruplet case ever handled at the institution since its establishment.

M P Singh said the hospital decided to provide treatment free of cost, considering the family’s financial condition.

The university also extended limited financial assistance under its welfare scheme.

Inside the NICU, however, the battle remains far from over.

Aditi Rawat explains that babies born before 28 weeks and weighing under 900 grams fall into the highest-risk category in neonatal medicine.

“The mortality rate in such cases can range from 50% to 80%,” she says.

Because the babies are extremely premature, many of their organs are still underdeveloped.

They cannot yet drink milk normally, and doctors are currently providing nutrition intravenously. T

heir oxygen levels, blood circulation, breathing patterns and pulse rates are being monitored almost every hour.

Outside the NICU, life has become a waiting game for the parents.

Amina spends most of her time lying quietly in a crowded hospital ward, still physically weak after the complicated delivery.

Nearby, other patients and attendants move in and out, but her focus remains fixed on the glass window overlooking the NICU.

At night, Alim sleeps outside the ward along with relatives, often surviving on little rest.

He admits that fear now creeps into his mind more often than before.

“When doctors mention complications and ventilators, you become scared,” he says quietly.

“Sometimes I wonder whether we should have listened to the doctors earlier. At that time, we only thought positively.”

Yet even in grief, he tries to hold onto faith.

“Whatever happens is for the best,” he says. “We only pray that our children survive and return home safely.”

Since Amina’s admission to the hospital, Alim has returned to his village only once — briefly last week to bury their firstborn son.

The couple had not yet named any of the babies. They wanted to wait until all of them returned home together.

Now, one painful task remains.

Amina does not yet fully know that one of the babies has died.

Too weak emotionally and physically, she often asks to see her children. Each time, Alim gently takes her to the NICU viewing window and lets her silently look at the three tiny infants fighting for life inside incubators.

For now, hope and heartbreak stand side by side in the hospital corridors of Moradabad — where a rare medical miracle has also become a deeply human story of love, faith, uncertainty and survival.

Before the recent Sambhal-Moradabad case in Uttar Pradesh, one of the latest reported quadruplet deliveries in India was in Indore in December 2025.

In that case, a woman named Shabana Mansoori naturally conceived quadruplets — three girls and one boy — and delivered them through a Caesarean section at a hospital in Indore.

All four babies were born alive, though they were underweight and required intensive medical care in the PICU/NICU. At the time of reporting, all four had survived.

Another widely reported quadruplet case occurred in Kupwara in October 2023.

A woman delivered three boys and one girl through normal delivery, but tragically, all four babies died within hours because they were extremely premature and the hospital lacked advanced neonatal facilities.

In the current Moradabad case, four babies were born naturally over five days, but sadly, the firstborn boy died due to complications linked to extreme prematurity. The remaining three babies are still under treatment in the NICU.